Disconnection threat brings in water revenue

• Consumers pay but State institutions don’t, says Acting Mayor
• Council calls meeting to persuade recovery of payments

By Chandani Kirinde

Efforts by the Kandy Mayor to get defaulters to settle their water bills has succeed to a great extent, with nearly 70 per cent of private consumers paying up.

But state institutions continue to owe the Kandy Municipal Council millions of rupees in unpaid water bills, KMC Acting Mayor Suminda Wickremesinghe said.

The majority of private consumers had settled their arrears after they were issued “red notices” a couple of weeks ago with the threat of disconnection within a week if bills were not settled. The Council had to effect only a very few disconnections, Acting Mayor Wickremasinghe told The Kandy Times.

The Kandy Municipality area has around 25,000 consumers.

However, he said, similar pressure tactics could not be used where State institutions were concerned as most of them provided vital services but that other steps needed to be taken to recover the monies owed to the KMC from these institutions.

“We have decided to a call a meeting with the heads of these institutions and persuade them to settle their arrears,” Mr. Wickremasinghe said. The meeting would take place after Mayor L.B. Aluvihare, who is out of the country, returns.

Some of the biggest defaulters include the Peradeniya Teaching Hospital (Rs. 5.7 million), Kandy Hospital (Rs. 4.8 million) and the Army Signal’s School (Rs. 3.9 million). Others include the Kandy Railway Station (Rs. 503,000) as well as the Courts Complex, several schools and some private business establishments.

The Gangawata Korale Pradeshiya Sabha which owed the KMC Rs. 4.8 million had paid up most of its arrears and it is expected that other government institutions would follow the example, the Acting Mayor added.